Nabaneeta Dev Sen

The renowned poet, novelist and short story writer Nabaneeta Dev Sen passed away on 7 November, 2019 after battling cancer. She was an acclaimed academician, linguist and thinker, who was awarded with the Padma Shri in 2000.

Born on January 13th 1938, she graduated from the Presidency College and did her Post graduation from Jadavpur University. She then moved to Harvard University for her Masters. She completed her doctoral studies from Indiana University and Post Doctoral research at the University of California. She then returned to her alma mater by joining in the department of Comparative Literature at Jadavpur University, retiring in 2002.

Pratham Pratyay published in 1959 is her first collection of poems. She went on to write across genres ranging from poetry, short stories, novels, and travelogues to children’s literature. She won the Sahitya Akademi Award for her book Naba- Nita in 1999.

She was married to Amartya Sen. Speaking from the USA he paid tributes to her. “She extraordinary talent, writer, thinker and researcher, with great humane feelings. Her absence will be felt,” he said.